Just back from a quick weekend at WDW, and wanted to share some reviews...
Marrakesh (dinner) - tried this on the premises of a) we like middle eastern food, b) there's some "entertainment" to it with the music and belly dancer (very good! how did she do that?!), and c) it's not a "regular" restaurant, with the standard prime rib, chicken, pasta, etc. offerings. the food was really just ok at best. we had the sampler appetizer platter, which included 2 chicken bastillas, 2 beef brewat rolls, and a small salad. the bastillas and rolls were ok, the salad was really just like tomatoes, olives, and onions tossed in italian dressing. for the entree, i had the shish kebab tenderloin skewers. they were not as seasoned as i would have liked,but it was tasty. what could be wrong with tenderloin? the big complaint was the portion size was pretty small. for $26, i expected more than 2 skewers of 4 cubes of meat each. DH had the platter with the roasted lamb, chicken skewer, and seafood bastilla. the lamb was pretty fatty; seafood bastilla was bland. in retrospect, he wished he chose the royal feast. for those on DDP, the dessert is limited to the baklava sampler, which was very good. there are 4 kinds - chocolate, almond, pistachio, and walnut. i was very disappointed that we could not get the crepes atlas. apparently, it's no longer offered at dinner. but the music and belly dancer were entertaining. especially for our 2 kids. we'd probably rate this restaurant a 2 out of 5.
Turf Club (dinner) - we were staying at SSR, and ate an early dinner here before heading home. we were pleasantly surprised. for an appetizer, we chose the fried calamari, which was not just the regular fried "rings" - there were also some whole fried baby octopus in it. sauces were good - aioli and spicy marinara. entrees we chose were the top sirloin and the penne pasta with shrimp. i prefer NY strip over sirloin, but since sirloin was the only steak offering, that's what we chose. it had a nice sauce on it (like a red wine or madeira sauce), and the fries were really good. the pasta was good -the shrimp were a little smaller than expected, but there were a lot of them. also, lots of artichokes, olives, sundried tomatoes, etc. very tasty. for dessert, we shared the individual apple pie with vanilla ice cream. it was delicious. i'm still trying to figure out if the crust was a pie crust or some kind of puff pastry. yum. the meal was nothing out-of-this-world spectacular, but it was very hearty and filling, and really hit the spot. it was a much better value than marrakesh - we ordered less items, and menu prices were cheaper, but we had a lot more food. we'd rate the Turf Club 4 out of 5.
Marrakesh (dinner) - tried this on the premises of a) we like middle eastern food, b) there's some "entertainment" to it with the music and belly dancer (very good! how did she do that?!), and c) it's not a "regular" restaurant, with the standard prime rib, chicken, pasta, etc. offerings. the food was really just ok at best. we had the sampler appetizer platter, which included 2 chicken bastillas, 2 beef brewat rolls, and a small salad. the bastillas and rolls were ok, the salad was really just like tomatoes, olives, and onions tossed in italian dressing. for the entree, i had the shish kebab tenderloin skewers. they were not as seasoned as i would have liked,but it was tasty. what could be wrong with tenderloin? the big complaint was the portion size was pretty small. for $26, i expected more than 2 skewers of 4 cubes of meat each. DH had the platter with the roasted lamb, chicken skewer, and seafood bastilla. the lamb was pretty fatty; seafood bastilla was bland. in retrospect, he wished he chose the royal feast. for those on DDP, the dessert is limited to the baklava sampler, which was very good. there are 4 kinds - chocolate, almond, pistachio, and walnut. i was very disappointed that we could not get the crepes atlas. apparently, it's no longer offered at dinner. but the music and belly dancer were entertaining. especially for our 2 kids. we'd probably rate this restaurant a 2 out of 5.
Turf Club (dinner) - we were staying at SSR, and ate an early dinner here before heading home. we were pleasantly surprised. for an appetizer, we chose the fried calamari, which was not just the regular fried "rings" - there were also some whole fried baby octopus in it. sauces were good - aioli and spicy marinara. entrees we chose were the top sirloin and the penne pasta with shrimp. i prefer NY strip over sirloin, but since sirloin was the only steak offering, that's what we chose. it had a nice sauce on it (like a red wine or madeira sauce), and the fries were really good. the pasta was good -the shrimp were a little smaller than expected, but there were a lot of them. also, lots of artichokes, olives, sundried tomatoes, etc. very tasty. for dessert, we shared the individual apple pie with vanilla ice cream. it was delicious. i'm still trying to figure out if the crust was a pie crust or some kind of puff pastry. yum. the meal was nothing out-of-this-world spectacular, but it was very hearty and filling, and really hit the spot. it was a much better value than marrakesh - we ordered less items, and menu prices were cheaper, but we had a lot more food. we'd rate the Turf Club 4 out of 5.